Five Ways Your Job Costs You Money

MSN Money lists five ways your job costs you money as follows: 1. Commuting costs 2. Child care 3. Clothes 4. Food 5. Charity pleas Of course there are costs associated with working. But in most cases, you end up making way more than you spend. Then again, there are times when there's not that big of a gap between what a person makes and what it costs for them to work (this is especially the case when the worker doesn't earn much and has high work-related expenses like child care.) This is why it's often not as hard as people think for a family to go from two incomes to one. Here's my take on the list above: 1. Commuting does cost a bundle, especially if it means the difference between needing a second car or not needing one. And then there are all the associated expenses -- insurance, gas, maintenance, etc. This is one area where people in major cities have a cost advantage since there's often cost effective, good public transportation available. 2. Child care costs are often the killers for a family where both parents work. In these cases, it's quite common that these costs alone suck most of the income from the lower-paid parent. If you do the math, many times the second person can quit work and reduce enough work-related costs to make it a wash financially for the family. This is especially true if one parent earns substantially more than the other. 3. Yes, most people have clothes that they only wear to work. But you don't have to go overboard and buy new stuff every season from top-name designers. Then again, these expenses may actually help you earn more money, so you could view them as an "investment" if you were looking to justify a specific purchase. :-) 4. If you eat out every day at work, I guarantee you're spending a boatload of money. Now this spending may be a good investment if you're networking or drumming up new business, but this isn't the case for most people. That's why taking your lunch to work is a great way to save a bundle of money throughout your career. 5. Really? Working makes you more likely to get hit up by charities? I guess it does a little, but is it really that significant? Not in any place where I've ever worked. What's your take on these? Are there any that they missed?